The Power of the Push: How Push Notifications Are Changing the Face of Mobile Marketing

The marketing power of push notifications is becoming increasingly clear. App users respond well to it, and it's set to change the way brands communicate with their customers.

Since most people would rather lose a limb than try to survive without their smartphone, it’s no surprise that marketers are using mobile apps more and more to communicate with consumers. Push notifications provide an immediate and effective way to do just that, and the feature is changing the way companies interact with their most loyal customers.

The Mobile Market

Driving consumer engagement through apps is a top priority for mobile marketers. As The Huffington Post points out, “Because it's so expensive and difficult to get noticed on the App Store in the first place, making sure you engage any consumer who has already downloaded your app is essential.”

According to the Cisco Visual Networking Index, global mobile data traffic grew 69% in 2014. As the mCommerce industry continues to rapidly expand, more and more retailers are realizing that push notifications are the best and most cost-effective way to engage with potential customers.

Push notifications are instant alerts that pop up on your screen. They can inform you about anything from a new email to your selfie being liked on Facebook to your Clash of Clans troops being battle ready. In other words, they can communicate a large and diverse range of information to an app’s user.

Pushing the envelope

The global marketing company Responsys recently conducted a survey finding that 68% of app users have enabled push notifications, and 70% of consumers found all push notifications, including order updates and location-based messages, to be valuable.

This opens up a fantastic opportunity for marketers to communicate directly with consumers — specifically, by building a meaningful relationship with app users, you make it far more likely that they’ll eventually convert to paying customers.

Responsys further reports that marketers witness 50% higher open rates on push notifications than on emails, with click-through rates up to twice double that recorded on emails.

The Future of Push

The role of push notifications is still evolving. Responding to the the success of the feature, Apple will be making notifications more interactive as part of the new iOS 8. New notifications will give users more options than ever, including the ability to respond without having to exit other applications, so you can reply to your mom without having to abandon Hay Day.

As push notifications become more responsive to the consumer, they provide an even better marketing strategy for small businesses. According to the New York Times, consumers have come to expect an app for almost everything.

As Noah Elkin, an analyst with eMarketer, commented on SixEstate, “It’s getting to the point where apps are similar to search. If you don’t get any results for a brand, that brand doesn’t exist.”

With AppMakr's easy-to-use mobile app development platform, the marketing potential of push notifications can be harnessed by any retailer, regardless of size or budget. AppMakr allows you to create an app — without needing to code — in just minutes. You can also take advantage of the marketing capacity of push notifications in order to grow your brand.